Processing emotions

I only know what my feelings were/are about a specific situations DAYS later. And then get stuck with that particular emotion for days, sometimes even years...

Don't know whether you finished writing your post, if so, let me know!

I used to have that issue - sometimes even days later I wouldn't understand the emotions I'd been feeling at the time.

Since being diagnosed I'm a little closer to Evan's ability to realise I'm experiencing an emotion, analyse it, and now to an extent I can often choose how to let it effect me.

This is particularly the case with slower build emotions - frustration, distress at excessive noise, a general unease at extended social engagement. Because I can now spot those emotions growing I can both constrain their ability to cause a loss of control and also address the cause before they get too much.

I still can't tell what the hell is going on at times though, and sometimes I do just emotionally overload and misbehave. Embarrassing after the event but not under my control at the time.

Yes, I have started to get a little better at this, too; in part, simply by knowing now that it is there and what it is, and also thanks to a lot of help from a therapist. She was trained to counsel autistic people, which made a huge difference from previous counsellors I'd seen. Whereas the others assumed that my lack of emotional communication was either conscious suppression or trauma induced, she realised that I was genuinely perplexed by my own state of mind, and that "I don't know" was an honest answer, not evasion.

This has particularly helped me to deal with anxiety and shut-downs. I now run through a little check-list occasionally; consciously making a point to read my arousal level, speaking volume, heart rate, and other signs, so that I can catch sources of stress much sooner. This has been a huge problem for me in the past - my anxiety levels would have to be very severe before considering doing something about it, because I wouldn't notice the slow build up of the physical and behavioural signs. A former colleague used to baffle me sometimes by walking up and giving me a little pep-talk about staying calm every now and then. I'd wonder what he was on about for a quite a while sometimes before realising that I was quite obviously acting like a very stressed out person; and sure enough, those would be the days when I felt most burned out by being at work.

So sorry to hear you are not feeling well today @NAS39067... I do hope it's going a bit better now.

I know what it's like, although I've been on sick leave for more than a year. For exactly those sensory overload reasons. I'm 44 now and it seems to be getting worse. 

I suppose you know what works for you when you are experiencing sensory overload? For me it's first calming down, often lying on the bed without any noise. And long walks in nature help too. When I was younger I could cope work life by running, yoga, meditation etc.

Now sometimes it's medication but it helps temporarily and I take it rarely.

So sorry to hear you are not feeling well today @NAS39067... I do hope it's going a bit better now.

I know what it's like, although I've been on sick leave for more than a year. For exactly those sensory overload reasons. I'm 44 now and it seems to be getting worse. 

I suppose you know what works for you when you are experiencing sensory overload? For me it's first calming down, often lying on the bed without any noise. And long walks in nature help too. When I was younger I could cope work life by running, yoga, meditation etc.

Now sometimes it's medication but it helps temporarily and I take it rarely.